Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 790 Wed. August 16, 2006  
   
Front Page


Mashrafee keeps the series clean


Mashrafee Bin Mortuza returned the best bowling figures by a Bangladeshi as the Tigers overwhelmed Kenya by six wickets in the third and final one-day international yesterday to wrap up the series 3-0.

The 22-year-old paceman's, the man-of-the-match in all three ODIs that earned him the man-of-the-series award as well, record bowling effort of 6-26 in the shorter version of the game powered the tourists repeat the feat done at home earlier this year when they outclassed the East African nation 4-0.

Mashrafee became only third Bangladeshi bowler to claim five or more wickets in a one-day international after Aftab Ahmed (5-31) and Mohammad Rafique (5-47).

The Kenyan batsmen had little clue against the bowling of the tearaway Mashrafee, dubbed as 'Narail Express', who bowled brilliantly, exploiting the overcast conditions after stand-in skipper Khaled Mashud had decided to field first, to dismiss the home team for 118 runs in 41.2 overs.

Despite a poor target to chase, Bangladesh top-order once again failed to serve which saw them reduced to 55 for four. But young guns Sakib Al Hasan and Forhad Reza played with authority during their unbeaten 65-run fifth wicket stand to coast the team home with 23 overs to spare.

Forhad in particular batted aggressively for his unbeaten 41 off 48 balls that featured seven fours and a huge six while Sakib added a 53-ball 25.

The Tigers are scheduled to leave Nairobi for home early Thursday after completing their 23-day under-achieving African safari -- they lost their five-match ODI series to Zimbabwe 3-2 in their first part of the trip.